re:solve
Randy Ang
In a botched Special Tactics Unit mission, Chen Shaoqiang’s (Chris Lee Chih-cheng) mentor Wu Tianle (Sunny Pang) is killed. It devastates him and ruins his relationship with Tianle’s sister, Qizhen (Mico Chang).
Seven years later, he tries to solve a series of armed heists and murders with new partner Yongcheng (Yuan Shuai). And the signs keep pointing to a dead man.
There is some promise in the story for what is being billed as Singapore’s first action crime thriller. But the preposterous twists and turns make you want to pick at them and once you do, things begin to unravel.
The mastermind is ultimately found out through some accidental revelation by a child. And too much rests upon the fact that the “double tap” technique of placing two shots in the same spot has been used by the criminals. Is it so inconceivable that people can learn to master it? After all, there is an entire Hong Kong film about it, named, well, Double Tap (2000).
It does not help that the performances are not quite convincing, either. Lee is miscast as the conflicted Shaoqiang – he does not have the heft to pull off the role and his Taiwanese accent sits oddly with the stilted Mandarin of some of the local actors.
The attempt to inject some idol-style romance between Lee and Chang is also misguided as the two have little chemistry.
A pity, really, given that director Randy Ang’s award-winning short film Ayam Man (2013) was both fun and inventive.
(ST)